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Mending habits

LONDON — Sustainability is a hot word in fashion. As an ideal, it embraces products that last, the so-called investment pieces that can be worn season after season. And these days it is seen as a backlash to fast, throwaway clothing.

At least that's the idea.

But as some fashion businesses have moved further away from manufacturing their own goods, it becomes harder to provide the kind of after-care that gives quality items longevity.

And while there are some expectations that the credit crunch and resulting retail downturn will rein in consumers' wear-it-today, discard-it-tomorrow habits, the problems that such habits cause are continuing to be felt today.

Replacing goods in-season is rarely a problem; they can be exchanged with existing stock. But once a prized piece moves out of season, it may need the hand of an expert to endure.

Burberry still offers after-care on its iconic trench coat, giving customers the chance to replace buckles and repair wear, a difficult service to find elsewhere. Both Prada and Gucci repair out-of-season merchandise, but the service can involve a fee.

And Pringle, the cashmere specialist that supplies knitwear to Queen Elizabeth and Madonna, closed its factory in Scotland this summer. It also suspended the cashmere reconditioning service that helped delicate £250, or $448, knits overcome the perils of pilling, moths and other damage. It says, however, that the free service will resume through another factory in Scotland.

Clare Waight Keller, Pringle's creative director, believes that the reconditioning service is a key part of the label's timeless appeal. "We understand that cashmere is a very expensive product and this is a way for customers to get more life out of it. With a fashion piece you'd never think to do that," she said. "Cashmere is one of those pieces you physically can't throw away - you'd feel awful throwing away cashmere."

Lucy Siegle, a writer on ethical issues and a visiting professor at the London College of Fashion, said: "The buzz is about eco-luxe and sustainable luxury. The glossy magazines are talking up investment pieces. But when you spend upwards of £250 on an item you want to be sure that you can get it repaired by an expert."

The Ecologist magazine has estimated that only 2 percent of wardrobe budgets are spent on repairing garments.

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And in late August, the science and technology committee of the House of Lords condemned the throwaway fashion mentality for adding to Britain's swelling pile of domestic waste. Of the 30 million tons of waste that the local authorities collect from households annually, textiles make up 3 percent, the committee's statement said.

The statement was unequivocal, fuming about the culture of fast fashion that "encourages consumers to dispose of clothes which have only been worn a few times in favor of new, cheap garments which themselves will also go out of fashion and be discarded within a matter of months."

Disposable fashion has not been isolated to high-street chain stores; the lust for the new has been just as manic at the more expensive end of the market. "Luxury products have become disposable," Siegle said. "Take handbags; they all want the new one. A few years ago, people would have thought you mentally ill if you spent £500 on a handbag."

It is the consumer who will make the difference for sustainability, according to an analysis presented last year by Julian Allwood of Cambridge University at an annual conference for suppliers to the British clothing industry. After all, he noted, it is the consumer who buys it and throws it away. According to ethicalconsumer.org, ethical consumption in Britain has grown by 49 percent every year since 1999, although the current economic downturn has added more uncertainty about what will happen in the future.

The British designer Graeme Black, who established his own label in 2005, says he has tried to meet a sustainable fashion idea by providing clients with a wardrobe that fits together, one season to the next, rather than sharply changing styles from season to season.

"When I started the business, I wanted to do something that had quality and durability. I hate fast fashion," Black said. "I love creating pieces that are timeless, a jacket that you still love in five years' time.

"There is this idea about 15 minutes of fame, about wanting to be seen on the red carpet, and for celebrities, knowing that you're more likely to be photographed if you're wearing a new dress. Well, that's fine. But it's not life."